Portrait
Historical Event/Topic
Paired Text (Poem)
Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851) by Emanuel Leutze
Painting showing Washington and some of his men crossing the Delaware River on December 25–26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War.
George Washington by James Russell Lowell

The Father of My Country by Diane Wakoski

George Washington's Birthday: Wondering by Bobbi Katz
The Girl I Left Behind Me (1870-75) by Eastman Johnson
Portrait of a young girl named after a popular, old Irish song
that was a popular tune sung during Civil War. The artist is
known to have followed Union troops for a period of time during the war.
To a Highland Girl by William Wordsworth

A Girl by Michael Field
Abraham Lincoln (1920) by Daniel Chester French
A colossal statue honoring the 16th U.S. President, Abraham
Lincoln, who served in office from March 4, 1861 until his assassination on April 15, 1865.
Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay
American Gothic (1930) by Grant Wood
Double portrait of a father and daughter in traditional dress for
rural farming folk in the 19th-Century.
Abandoned Farmhouse by Ted Kooser

The Farmer's Soliloquy by Robert Charles O'Hara Benjamin
Migrant Mother (1936) by Dorothea Lange
Photograph taken of a migrant mother and her children
during the Great Depression for the U.S. Government.
What I Learned From My Mother by Julia Kasdorf

Near Helikon by Trumbull Stickney
We Can Do It! (1943) by J. Howard Miller
Promotional poster of Rosie the Riveter made during
World War II.
Rosie the Riveter Song by Paramount Music Corporation
Christina's World (1948) by Andrew Wyeth
Portrait depicting the artist's neighbor, Christina, who
was crippled by polio. This painting was painted before
polio vaccines in the 1950s.
The Abandoned Farm by Mary Rose O'Reilley

The Farm by Joyce Sutphen
The Problem We All Live With (1964) by Norman Rockwell
Portrait of young Ruby Bridges walking with a police
escort to her first day at a desegregated elementary school.
Ruby Bridges by Elise
Mao (1973) by Andy Warhol
A portrait of Chinese ruler Mao Zedong (1893-1976) done in Warhol's famous silkscreen style.
Poems by Mao Zedong

A Hymn to Childhood by Li-Young Lee

The Little Walls Before China by A.F. Moritz
Barack Obama (2008) by Shepard Fairey
Street artist turned political endorser Shepard Fairey
created this reinterpreted print for the 2008 Barack
Obama presidential campaign.
Praise Song for the Day by Elizabeth Alexander

The Day I Saw Barack Obama Reading Derek Walcott's Collected Poems by Yusef Komunyakaa